#THE KAZIS ACT, 1880 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title. 
Local extent. 

2. Power to appoint Kazis for any local area. 

3. Naib Kazis. 

4. Nothing  in  Act  to  confer  judicial  or  administrative  powers;  or  to  render  the  presence  of  Ka’zi 
necessary; or to prevent any one acting as Ka’zi’. 



#THE KAZIS ACT, 1880 

##ACT NO.12 OF 1880

[9th July, 1880.] 

An Act for the appointment of persons to the Office of Ka’zi’. 

WHEREAS by the preamble to Act No. 11 of 1864 (*An Act to repeal the law relating to the offices of 
Hindu and Muhammadan Law officers and to the offices of Ka’zi’-ul-Kuzaat and of Ka’zi’, and to abolish 
the former offices*) it was (among other things) declared that it was declared that it  was inexpedient that 
the  appointment  of  the  Kazi-ul-Kuzaat,  or  of  City,  Town  or  Pargana  Ka’zi’s  should  be  made  by  the 
Government, and by the same Act the enactments relating to the appointment by the Government of the 
said officers were repealed; and whereas by the usage of the Muhammadan community in some parts of 
India the presence of Ka’zi’s appointed by the Government is required at the celebration of marriages 
and  the  performance  of  certain  other  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  it  is  therefore  expedient  that  the 
Government should again be empowered to appoint persons to the office of Kazi; It is hereby enacted as 
follows:— 

1. **Short title.**—This Act may be called the Ka’zi’s Act, 1880; 

**Local extent.**—It extends, in the first instance, only to the territories administered by the Governor of 
Fort Saint George in Council. But the Government of any other State may,  from  time  to  time,  by 
notification  in  the  Official  Gazette,  extend  it  to  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  territories  under  its 
administration.

2. **Power to appoint Ka’zi’s for any local area.**—Wherever it appears to the State Government that 
any considerable number of the Muhammadans resident in any local area desire that one or more Ka’zi’s 
should be appointed for such local area, the State Government  may, if it thinks fit, after consulting the 
principal Muhammadan  residents of  such local  area, select one  or  more  fit  persons  and appoint him  or 
them to be Ka’zi’s for such local area. 

If any  question  arises  whether  any  person  has  been rightly  appointed Ka’zi’  under  this section,  the 
decision thereof by the State Government shall be conclusive. 

The State Government may, if it thinks fit, suspend or remove any Ka’zi’ appointed under this section 
who is guilty of any misconduct in the execution of his office, or who is for a continuous period of six 
months absent from the local area for which he is appointed, or leaves such local area for the purpose of 
residing elsewhere, or is declared an insolvent, or desires to be discharged from the office, or who refuses 
or becomes in the opinion of the State Government unfit, or personally incapable, to discharge the duties 
of the office. 
 
3. **Naib Ka’zi’s.**—Any Ka’zi’ appointed under this Act may appoint one or more persons as his Naib 
or Naibs to act in his place in all or any of the matters appertaining to his office throughout the whole or 
in  any  portion  of  the  local  area  for  which  he  is  appointed,  and  may  suspend  or  remove  any  naib  so 
appointed. 

When any Ka’zi’ is suspended or removed under section 2, his naib or naibs (if any) shall be deemed 
to be suspended or removed, as the case may be. 

4. **Nothing  in  Act  to  confer  judicial  or  administrative  powers;  or  to  render  the  presence  of 
Ka’zi’s necessary; or to prevent any one acting as Ka’zi’s.**—Nothing herein contained, and no 
appointment made hereunder, shall be deemed— 

  (a) to  confer  any  judicial  or  administrative  powers  on  any  Ka’zi’  or  Naib  Ka’zi’  appointed 
hereunder; or 

  (b) to render the presence of a Ka’zi’ or Naib Ka’zi’ necessary at the celebration of any marriage 
or the performance of any rite or ceremony; or 

  (c) to prevent any person discharging any of the functions of a Ka’zi’. 
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